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Taking Sides in a Tasing

About 200 people are estimated to have attended a protest on Tuesday against the way Andrew Meyer was handled by police.(Photo: Doug Finger/The Gainesville Sun, via Associated Press)

Take it from Andrew Meyer, the University of Florida student hit with the Taser shot heard around the world via YouTube: Did the cops do anything wrong?

“I am not mad at you guys,” the police report [pdf] quoted him as saying in the ride to jail. “You didn’t do anything wrong, you were just trying to do your job.”

Does that mean that Mr. Meyer felt that he was simply doing his job as well? Friends of his told The Gainesville Sun that despite his reputation as a prankster and his apparent flair for self-promotion, exhibited on his personal Web site, TheAndrewMeyer.com, the dramatic exit from Senator John Kerry’s appearance on campus “was not any sort of publicity stunt.”

But one of the officers said that “his demeanor completely changed once the cameras were not in sight,” shifting in a matter of minutes from the kicking-and-screaming coiner of the new catchphrase “Don’t Tase me, bro” to “laughing and being lighthearted.” Then, they say, he asked them whether the news media would be on hand when he arrived at the police station.

Moreover, one of the widely circulated videos of the incident was filmed with his own camera. As he pushed his way toward the microphone to put his questions to Senator Kerry, he handed his camera to Clarissa Jessup, a student he didn’t know, and asked her to record him.

Then, just as his diatribe was heating up, he turned to Ms. Jessup and said, “Are you taping this? Do you have this? You ready?,” according to the police report.

Mr. Meyer has been released from police custody and has yet to be formally charged with either resisting arrest or disturbing the peace. Two officers involved in the incident have been placed on leave pending an investigation of their conduct in the incident.

While the state attorney’s office tries to make up its mind what to do, Florida students and other Facebookers are continuing to debate whether Mr. Meyer’s rights were violated.

For an interesting discussion on whether he should’ve been ejected (it may have been his mention of a sexual act, not a secret society, that prompted the heave-ho) and whether what he did amounted to resisting arrest, check out this forum, which requires registration.

If nothing else, the episode left Senator Kerry looking aloof, a criticism lobbed at him regularly during the 2004 campaign. As the incident unfolded, he tried to use his microphone to lighten the mood, seemingly unaware of the seriousness of the situation. Later, he said that he had not been aware until afterward that the student had been shocked with a Taser.

And while even Mr. Meyer’s friends concede that he unraveled a bit during his on-mike, on-camera rant, the senator on the receiving end of the rant said he regretted “enormously” that “a good healthy discussion” was cut short.

There was absolutely no justification for tasing Andrew Meyer. Everyone,including Mr.Kerry failed to react adequately in this incident. It is regrettable Mr.Kerry did not intervene at some point to stop the police. What happened is a reflection of the Bush administration’s policy to silence dissent and the general atmosphere of censure it has created I have a sense of living in a police state.

The taser is a wonderful device for inflicting a little “summary punishment” on anyone resisting or who has resisted arrest. They are almost never used until the subject is at least partially subdued because an outraged subject might kill the person with the taser. If you believe in on site punishment tasers are permissible. If you think courts are better for deciding punishment, get the tasers out of the cops hands. You can judge the quality of a police department by how many citizens they tasered/punished. How is your department?

America is becoming a militaristic state –internally. This includes police roughing up an 86-year old woman, tasering this student and multiple other police-abuse incidents. Our abuse of suspects in Guantanamo is helping poison the internal atmosphere and legitimatizes over-reaction. Once torture and physical abuse gets into the blood stream of the nation it will infect all areas of our society. Restraint is a precious thing in civil life. Abandon it in one area and it will effect all aspects of life. Prediction– more violence ahead in America as violence spread from our chosen enemies to our own citizens. Why should the police use restraint. We torture don’t we?

What is the point of this article. The police acted the way they did and whether or not the student wanted it to happen or not… and will happen again, whether or not the next victim wants it to happen or not.

There have been outbursts at conventions,press conferences, and speeches as long as there have been such things. When was it decided that impassioned expression was a felony worthy of torure? There’s a reason that freedom of speech was the very first amendment.

Unbelievable. First, here is yet another story that would be a non-story were it not for the video to show it, spectacularizing the event for the visual media. It’s patently unfair for the media outlets to promote certain items simply because of the eye-candy appeal. And audiences fall in line, eating this stuff up.
Second, just watch the whole video. When this kid participated in the Q and A forum, why did he assume the the rules and regulations applied to everyone else but him? Get your question together and say it within a minute — very simple. The other thing one sees is that responses to his excesses were reasonable at every step. It was the kid who ratcheted up the energy with his own reactions. His hammy acting throughout is ridiculous.
Third, the other kids at the University of Florida can think of this as police brutality, but please — the rest of the world knows better. If anything they showed restraint toward this immature jerk.
Finally, it’s not the tasing that really matters — it’s the spankings that should have happened years ago to put this crazy, attention-starved child in line.

This is outrageous. Even if this kid was a prankster trying to draw attention to himself, there is no justification for him to have been arrested and tased. In the video he can be seen overstaying his time at the microphone, which was then turned off, after which he began to walk away, but was set upon by 6-7 cops who dragged him out of the auditorium, forced him to the floor and tased him. Why was that necessary? Did they dislike his demeanor, his message, or where they just trying to teach him a lesson? Under any circumstance, being arrested due the content of ones speech is shameful and unconstitutional, and the violence unnecessarily initiated by these police was shocking and inappropriate.

If this student is a prankster and out for his 15 minutes of fame, it is irrelevant. At the time of his executing his first amendment right the officers only responsibility as a public venue like UF (because it is not a private university, it is public and therefore public property) was to protect the public interest against violence. Although this young man was less than graceful, he did not deserve third third-worldish abuse of police powers by the UFPD. I say who cares if he is a prankster. The issues are freedom of speech as well as defining as clearly as you can the line where protecting students on campus becomes oppressing them violently.

After reading the police report, as well as unconfirmed accounts of his actions *prior* to the video beginning to roll I think the Police Officers in question are probably on pretty solid ground from a legal standpoint. The Florida statute on Disturbing the Peace actually grants the officers immunity from both Civil and Criminal charges for false arrest. Excessive force might be an issue, but my Magic 8 Ball says the Police will drop charges (one of which is a 3rd degree felony charge) in exchange for an agreement by Meyer not to pursue it.

To those who say this is a freedom of speech issue – please take a look at the Police report for his actions prior to what you saw on the video. Disturbing the Peace is pretty much a legal catch-all for officers to use to remove someone they see as erratic or potentially dangerous from a situation like this.

This Meyer kid is a perfect example of the idealistic, self-important attitude that is sweeping today’s youth. They mean well, but their intent is subverted by their short attention spans and a craving to be a part of our constantly updating global media. God bless the passion but damn the underlying motivations.

Regardless of why they were removing him, if you resist an officer of the law then you are in the wrong. What he did AFTER the police tried to remove him IS illegal and he WAS resisting arrest. It’s one thing to be a big-mouth college student, arguing at a forum, but when the police step in you are playing by rules of the *real world*. Very simply, he got what he deserved.

3. His question to Mr. Kerry was a rambling rant, disrespectful of his audience and Mr. Kerry

4. He may have anticipated a crowd and/or campus police reaction to his rant

5. Notwithstanding 1-4 above, and his obvious delight at being apprehended, he did not seem to resist arrest.

6. Nothing excuses the show of force used to escort him from the premises

7. The tasing was completely uncalled for, a brutal show of strength and will be regretted by the University of Florida for years to come as their liability insurance company makes a six-figure settlement payment to Mr. Meyers.

8. Notwithstanding the incoherence of his questioning, his freedom of speech was infringed.

I do not believe the police at all. At all. How very convenient for them that his attitude changed so suddenly as soon as there was no one else around to corroborate what could easily be an attempt to vilify and discredit the victim of their brutality, a tactic that has been used innumerous times in the past (with a depressingly high success rate). I think the fact that all of the officers have been placed on leave pending an investigation of their actions speaks far more so than this report.

“the speed with which this story gained national attention has been incredibly detrimental to the opportunity for understanding what actually transpired.

As more and more inquiries are being made into who Andrew Meyer really is, the picture of a young man capable and willing to manipulate this weakness of modern media becomes ever more clear.

An avid prankster and politico, Meyer is a regular at local Gainesville political events. In the past, he has stood on a major street corner with a sign proclaiming “Harry dies” in the final book of the Potter series. His personal website lists interests that include “getting wasted.”
– Kyle Mitchell
Freelance reporter, videographer, columnist and online producer
The Gainesville Sun

Sometimes young activists get all wrapped up in of the world and it is at least a relief that Andrew has not jumped on the protest bandwagon. Even though there is the protected right to say what you want in public does not mean you have to abuse that priveledge by pulling a stunt at the Senators event but it did create some free publicity which Mr Kerry sure could use at the moment. It’s a win – win – win for all those involved. The kid gets some free and valuable airtime as does the senator then the racious kids who look for something to get angry and shout about have an opportunity to call the police vulgarities and whine about the injustices they feel the world has heaped on them.

“I do not agree with a word that you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” -Voltaire

Simply put the young man was speaking in a public forum and was denied his right to free speech. Stunt or no stunt it is not a crime in the US to speak your mind even if you are a jerk about it. He did resist the peace officers orders to leave the premises verbally and physically but in no way shape or form was he ever a threat to himself or others around him thus the real question is raised at what point should force be used by a peace officer in a peaceful public forum gathering? In my opinion NEVER provided the forum is peaceful- With the logic that followed this story should we allow tasers into our Senate? How about our House?

TASERS should be banned. They have little or no place in a free society. They are just too tempting for police to use when someone commits the ultimate offense, “contempt of cop” (which is the most common crime in America).

In rare cases, they could be useful to police, but their common use means people will be dying from heart attacks and/or subjected to unnecessary pain and suffering. I once saw a video of a guy getting hit with a TASER because a hurricane had come through his neighborhood and he wanted to go back in to check on his house. It is just too easy to escalate a simple dispute into a major police confrontation.

It is not a slur on police officers to say they should not have TASERS. While most officers are honest and careful in the use of force, there is a significant minority who are neither. Would you want your son or daughter facing one of those officers late at night? A TASER is too much random power to place in the hands of police, many of whom deeply resent having to work within the inherent rights of citizens granted in our Constitution.

The problem with TASERS is they represent too much readily available force without the stigma of gun shots. Got a problem with a citizen? Don’t like the way he’s talking back? TASER him. Just say he was “resisting arrest”.

There’s no doubt he should have been removed..the time was up and he was being disruptive. However, the tazer is meant to be an alternative to deadly force. It is not meant to be a way to “hurt” the suspect. There is nothing in any of the video’s I’ve seen to indicate that they had to apply this level of force. At the time they did, he was on the floor, in complete control of the police. It was unnecessary force.

And another thing – The “aloof” John Kerry during this episode just reinforces the message…politicians don’t care about the people. Instead of standing up and doing what was right, he stood back, let it happen, just to avoid “bad press”. This is a perfect example of what is wrong with our political system and politicians today.

He is a product of our times. A self-promoting jackass who should be tasered dailuy without the benefit of camera or microphone. If the media creates another mindless self-promoting celebrity like this i fear he’ll breed with Paris Hilton and they will produce offspring that are so adept at infiltrating the media they will be actual viruses on your computer. popping up and promoting their new line of bibs, diapers and pacifiers.

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